FLOURISH / PERISH

Beautiful, eerie, odd. I hear Jane Siberry, Elizabeth Fraser, Sarah Cracknell in Raphaelle Standell-Preston's vocals, yet her sound is also completely and uniquely her own. The thick, floaty sounds of the keyboards is often dense and rich, and I love how the susurrus of the snare drum adds unexpected warmth. One of my favorite things is that the whole album flows from the first track to the end in such a way that the overall sound subtly changes from beginning to end; in fact, when I've tried looping it, I find the effect of going from the last song back to the first jarring and unpleasant, because the sound has evolved so much since the beginning. That's not a criticism - I love that each piece so harmoniously flows to the next that I'm unconscious of the greater changes over time, and only hear the difference when I try to loop back from the last track to the first. Play from start to finish on a long drive on the highway at sunset. Enormously satisfying. Love it.

Bought on a bit of a whim, I was thoroughly rewarded. Tight, well organized electronics mixed with earnest and sultry vocals create really good late night mood music, or a relaxing introspective listen.Vinyl is black, jacket is printed on a very matte cardboard which soaks the ink, which causes it to not look very brilliant. Love the art.

I'll let the music speak for itself. I just wanted an opportunity to give this its well-deserved five stars. Brilliant album.